The CrossFit Games “The Madison Era”: 30-16 Men’s Rankings

Following the 2023 CrossFit Games the “Madison Era” of the Games is now officially behind us. Similarly to how we did for the Ranch Era and the Carson Era, we’ve set out to try and identify the top athletes from the third location that has played host to the CrossFit Games, Madison, Wisconsin. 

Changing Formats

The first year in Madison was 2017. The first two years were very normal years there, but everything changed during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The dramatic differences in the structure and execution of those seasons make this era a bit non-linear in terms of assessing performance. 

2019- Everyone Makes It

In 2019 over one hundred more people qualified for the Games than any other year during this era AND there was a dramatic cut structure which caused even some of the best from this time period to get between one and five events before being cut. Subsequently, it yielded overall finishes from some that are remarkably better and worse than any other year in their career. 

2020- No One Makes It

The following year, this time due to global circumstances, the Games was split into two stages, and the first stage took place online for the first time ever. Only five men and five women advanced to Stage 2, which we are still counting as during the Madison era, even though none of the events or stages took place in Madison that year. Once again we have results which are non-congruent relative to certain athletes careers otherwise, but, it’s what we have, so it’s what we’ll work with. 

Structure

Over the next two weeks, six different articles will be rolled out. This week we will focus on the men, beginning with the men ranked 30-16, followed up by the men 15-6, and finishing with the top 5 men from the Madison Era. The following week, the women will be highlighted in the same fashion.

*Note: These are my personal rankings. Thursday on the B.Friendly Fitness Podcast I will be joined by John Young of JY Barbell Club, who has made his own rankings for a debate in which we will attempt to compromise where we have differences amongst our rankings. 

Before we get to the top 30, I have to mention the first man I left off this list, Jacob Heppner. This was really difficult because in his two appearances he was 6th in 2019 and 12th in 2020. But, he didn’t qualify a single time for the Games during this era in the traditional way, And he has no data points from traditional years. One of his two appearances was only online, and there’s no one else on this list with two or less appearances that weren’t all live competitions. 

30. Adrian Mundwiler

• 2 Appearances
• Best: 8th – 2020
• Average Finish: 12
• Event Wins: 1 (Crit, 2018)

Mundwiler qualified three times during this era taking 16th in 2018, 8th in 2019, and withdrawing in 2021. The eighth in 2019 is an outlier in a good way during a season that is an outlier in a bad way. He takes a little hit relative to other men with a similar resume because of this. 

29. Tim Paulson

• 6 Appearances
• Best: 14th – 2020
• Average Finish: 25.5* (counting his 105th from 2019 as a 40th, or last, from any other year)
• Event Wins: 0

Paulson has the worst average finish of anyone on this list, but that’s weighed down heavily by a 105th in 2019 when he only got to do one event which happened to feature his worst movement. The main reason he’s on this list is because he qualified for the Games every year he tried during this era (2017-2022), and then went on a team in 2023. The lowest any other person with that many qualifying appearances during this era is ranked other than him is 14th. 

28. Willy Georges

• 3 Appearances
• Best: 9th – 2018
• Average Finish: 15.7
• Event Wins: 1 (Bicouplet 2, 2018)

Georges’ ninth place finish in 2018, including a stellar performance on Bicouplet 1 (2nd place) and Bicouplet 2 (1st place) on Saturday night in the Coliseum are by far his strongest argument to make this list. He also had a 21st in 2019, and a 17th in 2022. It’s the 2022 year that keeps him in the conversation, as that was a second data point four years later in a very competitive year which attests to him being one of the top-30 from this era. 

27. Jayson Hopper

• 3 Appearances
• Best: 7th – 2022
• Average Finish: 19
• Event Wins: 0

Hopper has made the last three CrossFit Games (2021-2023), and he’s a had a strange spattering of finishes: 19th as a rookie, seventh in his second year, and then 31st last year, getting cut in the first rounds of cuts half way through the competition in a year where many thought he had a chance to fight for a top-five. All in all, he’s a tough one to place, but the seventh place holds strong, and three-straight years at the Games under “normal” circumstances count for something. 

26. Cody Anderson

• 2 Appearances
• Best: 10th – 2018
• Average Finish: 12.5
• Event Wins: 1 (Handstand Walk, 2018)

Anderson only had two years, 15th in 2017 and 10th in 2018, right at the beginning of the “Madison era”. Anderson is known for being a modern day Chris Spealler, punching well above his weight class quite often. While his only win during this era came on the Handstand walk event in 2018, he put on a show in the Muscle-Up Clean Ladder in 2017 which is an even better testament to the kind of athlete and fighter he was.

25. Logan Collins

• 3 Appearances
• Best: 11th – 2017
• Average Finish: 13.3
• Event Wins: 2 (30 Ring Muscle Ups, 2018, Fibonacci Final, 2017)

Collins competed in the beginning of this era finishing between 11th and 15th in three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019. During those years he logged two event wins (30 ring muscle ups for time in 2018 and the Fibonacci Final in 2017). He’s not the flashiest athlete on the floor, but he was very consistent during the first part of this era including two extremely competitive years in 17 and 18. 

24. Chandler Smith

• 4 Appearances
• Best: 6th – 2020
• Average Finish: 12.25
• Event Wins: 0

Smith is coming off what I consider his best-ever finish and showing at the Games this past season when he placed 7th. Recency bias could sway opinions in the case of Smith, and so could the strangeness of the 2020 season where he finished 6th and only missed making the final five by two points to Jeff Adler. He also had a 15th in 2019 and a 21st in 2021 where he again was the first man to miss the final cut. 

23. Dallin Pepper

• 2 Appearances
• Best: 5th – 2023
• Average Finish: 12
• Event Wins: 1 (Echo Thruster, 2023)

This is likely where Hopper would have been in the “Madison Era” if it had ended in 2022. For Pepper, a strong first showing in his rookie year getting 19th in 2022, followed up by a great performance on the final day in 2023 to catapult himself all the way up to fifth place this past summer. He closed things out in style notching his first career event win on “Echo Thruster”, the final event of 2023, and earned this ranking by doing well in two years which were as chalked full of high level men as we’ve ever seen. 

22. Alex Anderson

• 2 Appearances
• Best: 8th – 2017
• Average Finish: 10.5
• Event Wins: 0

Alex Anderson was basically the better version of Cody Anderson during 2017 and 2018. He didn’t compete after that, so we only have those two years to evaluate, but 8th place and 13th place show a high level of fitness and consistency over a short period of time that he competed in Madison.

21. Will Moorad

• 4 Appearances
• Best: 10th – 2019
• Average Finish: 16.5
• Event Wins: 1 (Echo Press, 2022)

Four-time Games qualifier during this era, and his best finish came in 2019 where he placed 10th (or last amongst the men who made it to the second half of the competition, and also tore his hamstring during the second part of that competition- meaning he likely would have placed higher than that). He has also made it the last three years placing rather consistently, 20th, 22nd, and then 14th which to me was the most impressive finish of this era for Moorad.

20. Lukas Hogberg

• 2 Appearances
• Best: 3rd – 2018
• Average Finish: 10
• Event Wins: 2 (Ruck, 2019, Two Stroke Pull, 2018)

Hogberg is the lowest ranking podium finisher from this era. The performance throughout the 2018 CrossFit Games en route to a third place finish was magical and inspiring. He came back the next season and got cut after event 5 in 17th place (along with several other men on this list). I would have loved to see him finish that year to know if he could have climbed back into the top ten over the weekend, and also to have some idea of just how unexpected or not that podium in 2018 was. 

19. Jay Crouch

• 4 Appearances
• Best: 8th – 2023
• Average Finish: 19
• Event Wins: 0

Crouch is in the midst of four-straight Games qualifications, and comes off a career best finish of eighth after a career worst finish of 28th in 2022. The other two seasons he was 18th (online in 2020 which I place little to no real value on) and 22nd in 2021 where, like Chandler Smith, he narrowly missed the last cut. Consistent qualification and the eighth in 2023 help Crouch sneak into the top-20 here.

18. Ben Smith

• 3 Appearances
• Best: 7th – 2017
• Average Finish: 15.7
• Event Wins: 0

Ben Smith is a rare breed; he competed in all three eras of the CrossFit Games up to this point, and was second in the “Carson Era” rankings for men. He competed for the first three seasons in Madison, though his third appearance was via invite, not qualification, in 2019. Prior to that he took seventh in 2017 and 12th in 2018, which on their own still justify the ranking he has – slightly better than Alex Anderson with an additional appearance. 

17. Travis Mayer

• 5 Appearances
• Best: 12th – 2017, 2019, 2021
• Average Finish: 14.6
• Event Wins: 0

Several men lower than Mayer on this list have a higher finish than him (he’s been 12th three times during this era, 18th once, and 19th once). However, the five qualifications, five finishes inside the top-20, and overall presence of Mayer throughout this era are stronger than the men below him on this list. 

16. Guilherme Malheiros

• 3 Appearances
• Best: 7th – 2021
• Average Finish: 19* (counting his 48th from 2019 as a 40th, or last, from any other year)
• Event Wins: 5 (Hat Trick, Sandbag Ladder – 2022, 550 Yard Run, Clean Ladder-Run, Snatch – 2021)

The final man in the first half of the top-30 from the “Madison Era” is another difficult one to assess. He was seventh in 2021 and 10th in 2022 with five event wins, more than anyone else who isn’t in the top-8 of these overall rankings. He actually had a 48th as well in 2019, and then failed to qualify in 2023. His two appearances were very solid and got him half-way up this list, but as you’ll see, the resumes ahead of him start to get extremely impressive. 

Ranks 15-6 will be coming out tomorrow.